


Uncharacteristic

by Cosmic_Biscuit



Category: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Drama, Fire, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Set during Mid-season time skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-20
Updated: 2012-08-20
Packaged: 2017-11-12 13:21:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/491493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cosmic_Biscuit/pseuds/Cosmic_Biscuit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finding that you would risk your life for your partner is a very strange sort of relationship upgrade.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Uncharacteristic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ThisRedCat](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=ThisRedCat).



Barnaby allowed himself to swear quietly as he carefully picked a path through the burning laboratory. They had all been warned in advance that the NEXT they were going after was a pyrotechnic talent, but the Fire Emblem-style flames they’d been expecting and the concussive bombs the woman had turned out to be capable of creating had been very different. 

He could hear pops of shattering glass as chemical vials exploded from the heat in their cabinets, and swallowed thickly as he finally noticed just how many poisons were mixed into the smoke his suit was protectively filtering. He could hear voices yelling at him over his comm system to get the hell back outside. He couldn’t turn back now, though, not without-

_“Kotetsu!”_

The green and white armor lay in a motionless heap several yards away under a half-melted support beam. 

Fighting down a sudden sick wave of panic at the sight of his partner half obscured by flames, Barnaby activated the jet vents in the back of his armor, leaping the distance between them. 

When he rolled Kotetsu over, he had to bite his tongue to keep from making a noise of fear. The beam had caught the older man in the shoulder and side of the head, partially crushing the armor to the point that the faceplate was jammed open, leaving him exposed to the poisonous smoke.

_‘Okay, okay, think,’_ he told himself, trying to remain calm as he did the math in his head. Kotetsu had gone in to look for any left behind civilians ten minutes before suit repairs had allowed Barnaby to follow his partner. The ceilings had only started caving in after  Barnaby had gotten in himself. So at worst, that was only about five minutes, maybe a little more, that Kotetsu had been breathing the fumes. Still workable if he could figure out a way to get around the helmet damage.

They both had secondary breathing apparatuses in the event of going under water, or if the primaries failed. But if the helmet’s control functions had been compromised by the blow… He carefully tested a few simple commands, and cursed again when they wouldn’t respond. Dammit, how was he going to manage-

The idea came to him in a flash and, without even hesitating, he stripped off his own helmet to disconnect the tubes that connected and filtered his own secondary device. Once he’d gotten it out, he ripped open one of the crumpled panels in Kotetsu’s armor to wire in the workaround and get the tubes attached to the air filters, then peeled back more of the  helmet’s broken facing to hook the breathing mask around his ears. His own throat was burning from the heat and fumes and he was beginning to feel sick by the time he was done, but seeing Kotetsu take a deep gasp of filtered, clean air was worth it. 

Drawing back, he started to put his helmet back on, when there was a crunch and a screech from above. Barnaby barely managed to grab his partner out of the way as another one of the big support beams came down, bringing flaming debris with it. Pain lanced through his back, and he unsteadily looked over his shoulder to see that he hadn’t moved fast enough to spare his own armor. The jet vents were useless now, and his legs felt like lead. He’d lost his helmet somewhere in the rubble too, leaving him unprotected from the smoke.

He’d deal. Right now, the focus was on getting his partner out alive.

Barnaby didn’t have enough strength left to go for the flashy exit and didn’t much care about doing so anyway, and instead very carefully hefted Kotetsu onto his shoulders in a fireman’s carry before beginning to slowly make his way back out the way he’d come in.

Step by agonizing step, he pushed through the smoke and avoided fiery obstacles, trying to rely on color to see safe areas, pausing only to readjust his grip on his partner. Catching his breath was pointless, since every inhale was like breathing in sharp needles and made him feel weaker and more sick. Sweat made his armor undersuit stick to him even more than usual. The heat baked everything on the outside, making his mouth feel full of ashes.

It probably actually was, but he tried not to think about it.

Almost… there…

Barnaby finally stumbled out of the laboratory, barely able to stay on his feet or keep Kotetsu steady. Grey and black spots clouded the corners of his vision, and though he could hear new voices yelling at him, he couldn’t make out anyone distinct.

Not particularly giving a good goddamn about how it looked on the cameras at the moment, he only staggered as far as it would take to keep medics from getting caught in a backdraft, then collapsed to his knees to carefully deposit his partner on the ground. 

“Treat him first,” was the last thing he heard himself rasp before his vision blacked out entirely.

===

When he slowly floated back up towards consciousness, the first thing he was aware of was that, aside from the beeping and humming of small machines, it was very quiet. And something was covering his nose and mouth. He slowly cracked his eyes open, and the white and silver and blue blurs around him made the noises make sense. He’d made it to the hospital.

A blue and dark gold moving blur -nurse- was busily checking monitors, then noticed that he’d woken up and quickly left. After a few minutes, a dark grey splotch he identified after a few seconds as Maverick came in. 

“You gave us quite a scare, my boy.”

Barnaby made an attempt at sitting up, but found he didn’t have the strength. “Where is Kotetsu?” he asked, and was a little embarrassed at pathetic his voice sounded.

“Your partner had a minor concussion and some easily treated smoke inhalation sickness. He was released two days ago. _You_ , on the other hand, are very lucky to have not sustained permanent brain damage from the amount of toxins they’ve been working to flush from your system, and are looking at weeks of recovery for muscle and joint strain. You took an _immense_ risk.” 

He didn’t have to be able to see his guardian’s face to read the disapproval, and faught the urge to automatically squirm like he would have when he was small. “He’s my partner, sir,” Barnaby protested quietly. “I couldn’t just leave him behind to die.”

“Hm. Commendable,” Maverick said, though his tone was neutral. “It can be worked with. But take better care in the future, my boy. We can’t afford to lose you.”

Something about the way he said that gave Barnaby a shivery little feeling down his back, but before he could try to figure out what the problem was, Maverick had left and exhaustion overtook him again. Still thinking about it, he dozed back off to sleep.

When he woke again, he found a familiar green and white and black splotch sitting in the chair beside his bed. “Kotetsu?”

At the sound of his voice, his partner roused and perked up before reaching out of his field of sight for something. A careful hand gently settled his glasses in place, and Barnaby had to blink a few times to readjust to the sharp change in his vision. “Thanks.”

“I should be the one thanking you,” Kotetsu said, eyes looking suspiciously red-rimmed and tired. “That was reckless as hell. I mean, you really saved my ass there, but _geez_ , Bunny.”

Barnaby felt embarrassed, somewhat similarly to when Maverick had come to see him, but it was different this time. Warmer. “We’re partners,” he said faintly, and the reasoning sounded even weaker this time. True, the measure of their relationship had changed vastly since the fight with Martinez, but for him to have reacted as he had…

They both sat in awkward silence as Kotetsu avoided looking at him and Barnaby tried in vain to find some metaphorical pieces of his old armor to cover the areas he’d left vulnerable with what he’d done in the laboratory. “Besides, it’s not like you’re one to talk, Mr. Pretend I’m Healed So I Can Go Running Back Into Battle With A Psycho.”

Kotetsu snorted at the weak attempt of his usual snark. “Hey, come on, it makes sense for _me_ to pull that insane shit. _You’re_ supposed to be the _analytical_ side of this outfit,” he said, and just like that, the tension in the room vanished. A calloused hand brushed over his, and Barnaby found himself turning his own over to clasp it. “Seriously, though,” Kotetsu added softly. “Thank you for coming after me.”

Barnaby couldn’t manage a vocal response to that, but gave as much of a nod as the machines covering him would allow. “What happened to the criminal?” Barnaby asked, mostly to just make small talk. 

“Dragon Kid and Sky High made a dual catch, since Emblem and Rose were fighting the fire and Cyclone and Bison were helping us grab civilians. Everybody got points for the rescues, though.”

Kotetsu settled deeper into his chair, still holding his hand as they both went quiet, and Barnaby returned the gesture when the hand holding his gave a light squeeze.

“Have they said anything about my recovery process?” Barnaby asked after a few comfortable minutes. “Mr. Maverick didn’t tell me much.”

“Well, the first thing they gotta do is finish clearing out your lungs and blood stream. You’ve been on the mask and IV drips for a little over a week now and you’ve got one more day to go. After that, they gotta get your weight back up and put you through some physical therapy.” Kotetsu grinned. “If they let me, I could bring you lunch. We both know hospital food is too nasty to do jack shit for anybody.”

Barnaby found himself giving a small, but genuine smile under the breathing mask at the offer. “I… I’d like that.”

“Great! Any requests?”

He considered it for a minute. “Maybe some apple salad from that place on the Square we went to last month?”

“The one with the chocolate moon on its sign?”

“Yes.”

“Can do. But seriously, you’re just gonna get rabbit food for your first solid meal in a week?”

“It has a salmon filet on it.”

“Still. You’re supposed to be getting your weight back up. Doctor’s orders, Bunny,” Kotetsu chided with a wag of his finger.

Barnaby rolled his eyes, but the sigh was only a little bit  exasperated. “Fine, if it’ll get you off my case,” he said in mock annoyance. “I’ll take a piece of their peanut butter cake, too. I’ll pay you back for it.”

“Apple salad and peanut butter cake. Got it,” Kotetsu said without a single sign of acknowledgement that he’d offered payment. Barnaby decided he was too tired to argue about it, closing his eyes again.

===

“Just take the money.”

“Nope.”

_“Kotetsu.”_

“No can do! See, I saved your butt, you saved mine, so now we’re friends, right? And friends let their friends buy them lunch.”

“That- … That doesn’t even make any _sense!_ ”

“Sure, it does!”

He eventually lost the argument by default due to Kotetsu’s leaps of ‘logic’ leaving him with a fierce headache. And every argument over the lunches that followed ended in a similar manner. But when his partner tossed an arm around his shoulders the day he was released from the hospital, and suggested they go celebrate together, Barnaby decided they didn’t particularly bother him anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> Commission fic for ThisRedCat, who requested Barnaby getting hurt rescuing Kotetsu from danger.


End file.
